Thai authorities, using the emergency decree, have recently shut down 26 more community radio stations in nine provinces, media reports said.   The Nation said six more stations were pressured to discontinue their operations. The English-language newspaper also reported that at least 35 people working for these stations, like radio hosts, station managers and executives, [...]

A human rights lawyer claimed on 19 July 2010 that the Singapore government is denying him access to his client, British author Alan Shadrake, who had been arrested over defamation charges, media reports said.   Agence France-Presse quoted lawyer M. Ravi as saying that Singapore authorities did not return his calls or answered his faxed [...]

Two books which the Cambodian government claimed contained "unsuitable political content" were banned last week, even as the police purchased copies of the said books in bulk and warned the bookstores against selling them in the near future, media reports said. The "Phnom Penh Post" said Education Minister Im Sethy requested Information Minister Khieu Kanharith [...]

Another film by Singaporean filmmaker Martyn See was ordered banned by the city state effective 14 July 2010 because it was "deemed contrary to public interest." The Singapore government's Media Development Authority (MDA) also ordered See to take down all digital copies of the film uploaded on video website YouTube and See's own blog. According [...]

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) wants the Indonesian Police Headquarters not to file criminal charges against Tempo magazine. AJI strongly suggests that the Indonesian Police Headquarters should instead pursue procedures stipulated in Press Law no 40/1999 – to exercise their Right to Reply or to file their complaint to the Press Council. "Criminalization against [...]

Two unidentified men riding tandem on a motorcycle hurled three molotov cocktails at the Tempo magazine office in Jakarta, Indonesia in the early morning of 6 July 2010, media reports said.   The Jakarta Post said two of the bombs exploded but the resulting fire was quickly extinguished. One of the magazine's security guards said [...]

A Mindanao-based publisher and editorial consultant was gunned down a few meters from his karaoke shop on 19 June 2010. It was the third killing in a week following the death of Desidario "Jessie" Camangyan on June 14 and Jovelito Agustin on June 16.     Nestor Bedolido, editorial consultant of the weekly "Kastigador" ("Castigator") [...]

A landmark cyber-crime case in Thailand commenced today, 31 May 2010, with the accused, website administrator Chiranuch Premchaiporn, officially denying the 10 counts of Computer Crime Act violation filed against her. The Criminal Court set the trial’s first hearing on 4 February 2011, even as the Court approved the prosecution’s 14 witnesses and the defense’s [...]

The following is a statement by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)–a SEAPA founding member based in Manila–on the sixth month of the November 23 massacre of 58 persons including 32 journalists and media workers. The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ), the Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD) and several individuals [...]

A decisive government push to dismantle a weeks-old protest in Bangkok has triggered more violence and heightened security risks throughout Thailand, with the media caught in the frontlines and crossfires of the ensuing chaos.   An Italian reporter on 19 May 2010 died from a gunshot wound. Photojournalist Fabio Polenghi of the Italian news agency [...]